A Couple of Master Assassins
by f-romanoff-13
Summary: This is the story of how Clint and Natasha got together, broke up, and got back together again (with a little interference from Pepper and Tony) - This is sort of an introduction to my story 'Family' but can be read as a one shot
1. Chapter 1

After the battle of New York and everyone moved into the tower; they all assumed Clint and Natasha were a couple, but the fact is; they used to be...

When Natasha had first come to work for SHIELD she'd been partnered with Clint; Fury had warned him it was his responsibility to keep an eye on her. Their partnership went from strength to strength and in less than a year they'd become SHIELDs top field agents.

They became a couple a few months later. It was slow and delicate, neither knowing where they were heading, but it soon evolved into a full blown relationship and it scared them both to admit how much they needed the other.

Then it all went downhill.

A mission in Marrakesh had gone drastically wrong; Clint had overstepped his mission parameters in order to protect Natasha; he took a bullet for her and was knocked unconscious. Enemy agents were alerted to their presence when the alarms sounded; the building was set alight, explosions rocked the foundations and Natasha's instructions came through to leave all casualties behind and get out with the data drive she'd stolen, at whatever cost.

Natasha ripped the com unit from her ear and shoved it in her pocket; there was no way she was leaving Clint. She managed to get him down three flights of stairs and take out seven guards before the roof came down on top of her.

They were trapped, the coms had lost their signal, and as far as she was aware no one was coming for them. Clint had woken, but he was still losing a lot of blood from the bullet wound through his shoulder. They'd been trapped for well over 10 hours by now. He grasped Natasha's hand and was worried to find it cold; she was freezing, her leg was trapped beneath debris and she had a nasty head wound. She turned slowly to face him, forcing a smile to her face

"You should have left me Nat"

"Couldn't do that" she said, coughing as she inhaled, the movements caused a shooting pain up her side from her crushed leg and she winced

"Couldn't have left you either" he smiled at her

"You shouldn't have got in the way"

"He would have killed you Nat"

"Would have been better than us both dying" she said sadly, referring to the predicament they were now in

"No it wouldn't" Clint replied softly, squeezing Natasha's frozen hand gently in his "I love you Natasha"

"I love you too Clint" she whispered, before slipping from consciousness

"Tasha, Tasha?" Clint tries desperately to wake her, but nothing worked. Tears slid down his face and he too slipped into unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter 2

Five days later Clint woke up in the SHIELD infirmary. Fury was stood by the door to his room glaring at him.

"Conference room, 5 minutes" and with that he left

With a bit of help Clint stumbled into the conference room and sat down. Hill and Coulson were there, and other than Fury, the room was empty.

"Where's Tasha?"

"Agent Barton-"

"I don't care what you're going to say Fury. Where is Natasha?"

Fury scowled at him, but answered his question anyway; "She's still in the infirmary"

"Is she going to be okay?"

"It'll take a while, but she should be"

Clint breathed a sigh of relief; he'd half been expecting her death notice

"You won't be working with Agent Romanoff any more Barton"

"What?! Why?"

"The information disc from Marrakesh was damaged when the building collapsed; the whole thing was for nothing because you both disobeyed orders. Agent Romanoff will be reprimanded and the two of you will cease to be partners"

* * *

That was the last mission the two worked together. Clint was sent instantly on another mission while Natasha recovered from her injuries, by the time he returned, she was gone. They were posted at opposite sides of the globe and never had overlapping stays in cities or towns. They tried to keep in contact, keep tabs on one another but SHIELD made it almost impossible.

Time went on and eventually they both moved on.

* * *

Then Natasha received a phone call from Coulson informing her that Barton had been compromised and all the feeling she'd tried to ignore, buried deep within her came back to the surface.


	3. Chapter 3

After the battle of New York they were forced to work together once again as part of The Avengers.  
It was awkward for them; Marrakesh was almost four years ago, but they moved into the tower and got past it; they became friends and nothing more.

* * *

Then another mission got in the way.

They needed information from Stephen Griffin, he was well known in the drug world but had started dealing in human trafficking.  
He was almost impossible to get close to, so an undercover mission was assigned to the Avengers.

Steve was to go in posing as a well off business man, bully and all-round nasty guy; someone Griffin would like. He was to show an interest in 'trading' his wife (Natasha), Clint would be posted across the street as surveillance and the others were stationed a block away as back up. The idea was for Steve and Natasha to get close enough to bring him in without a need for anyone else, and as far as everyone other then Clint was concerned, it was working.

Steve had had to do a lot of work to get into his role, and was playing it well. He shoved Natasha through Griffin's office door and left her weeping on the floor while he spoke business with Griffin. He was a tall and imposing man, one of the reasons Steve was chosen rather than Clint for the role. He sent away his men and turned his attention to Natasha, he dragged her from the floor and examined her like a piece of meat, a commodity to be bought and sold. Clint was already aiming his weapon at him; he'd like nothing more than to wipe that arrogant look off his face. Griffin made a few comments like 'too skinny' and 'red hair, we don't get many of those'; overall he looked impressed. He made Steve an offer which he accepted and shook his hand.

The next thing that happened took Steve by surprise, it made Clint's blood boil, however it had been exactly what Natasha had been expecting.  
Griffin grabbed her throat and threw her to the floor, he followed; straddling her hips and pinning her to the ground, he used one hand to pin her hands above her head and the other to rip open her top, he stared approvingly at what he saw.  
Natasha was just getting ready to take him down; flip the position over, knee him between the legs and handcuff him so Steve could drag him into custody, but before she could move an arrow flew through the open window and embedded itself in his eye socket.  
She scrambled out from beneath the dead body and glared at Clint across the street. Now they'd get nothing useful from Griffin and Fury would be livid.

Sure enough he was furious, both Clint and Natasha were reprimanded and forced to complete all the Avengers overdue paperwork.


	4. Chapter 4

Following that Natasha refused to speak to Clint unless it were absolutely required. Clint was equally pissed at Natasha for taking unnecessary risks in the field; he was forever getting in trouble for having her back.

The awkward silences were torture for the rest of the team, Natasha ate alone everyday while the rest of the team had their meals together, and Clint had to find a new sparring partner when Natasha started training with Steve.

This went on for three weeks before Tony decided it had been long enough. He tried talking to Clint about it, but he was more stubborn than Tony had initially given him credit for. He then tried broaching the subject with Natasha who threatened to break his jaw if he continued.

He was forced to call in reinforcements.

They made sure the rest of the team was out; Tony dosed Clint's coffee with a mild sedative and dragged him to a closet, Pepper asked Natasha for help carrying something upstairs before locking her in. The two assassins were trapped together. Tony made sure JARVIS wouldn't let them out before him and Pepper left on a date.

* * *

Natasha sulked by the door; she was furious and annoyed. She had picked the lock but JARVIS was keeping the door firmly shut. Clint stirred from the other end of room and sat up with a start, glancing around him his eyes settled on Natasha, a confused expression worn openly on his face.

"Pepper and Tony's idea of a joke" she explained curtly

"It isn't very funny"

"You're telling me!"

They sat in silence for hours, Natasha by the door, Clint by the back wall, until he couldn't stand it any longer.

"What happened to us Nat?"

She shrugged; "sometimes things just fall apart"

"Why didn't we try and fix it?"

"We didn't have chance Clint, things aren't always that easy"

"We could have tried; I thought we had something Nat"

"We did"

He looked at her attentively, trying to get a read of her feelings. She avoided his gaze; staring intently at her feet as she hugged her knees to her chest.

"Can I ask you, why are you so mad at me?"

"You really have to ask?"

"I just did"

"You need to trust me Clint, you're always overstepping in the field. You don't believe I can take care of myself; I was in the field long before you came along Clint Barton, I don't need you to save me all the time!"

She was waiting for Clint to become defensive, for this to escalate into a shouting match, but instead he just sighed

"I'm sorry Nat; you're right"

She looked at him baffled

"I just hate that you have to put yourself in those situations, I hate seeing the way those guys look at you; like you're an object to be used and discarded. It makes me sick"

Natasha felt buried feelings bubbling back up to the surface. She looked at Clint and knew she'd never trusted anyone more, he'd been the only stable thing in her life; the one constant, the one good thing she'd ever been allowed. He'd changed her life, in more ways than one; he'd fixed her and built her back up, given her a second chance and taught her how to trust.

Clint was still slumped in the corner, eyes fixed on his hands. So when he felt Natasha's lips on his he was taken aback. She pulled away as he tenses with shock, unsure of what it meant, but was relieved when he pulled her back to him.  
His hands were on her back, keeping her close to him. Her hands were in his hair, keeping his lips pressed to hers. They kissed with urgency, as if trying to make up for the missed years. Neither of them had spoken any more truth than those few words uttered in a collapsing building in Marrakesh.

"I love you" they both said breathlessly

They took the time to relearn each other bodies; they'd both gained new scars since they'd last been together. Natasha had a stab wound across her abdomen and a bullet wound in the thigh, Clint had a long scar down his back from an operation and three small puncture wounds in his shoulder.  
They slept together and for the first time in a long time they felt complete. They fell asleep, content, in each other's arms.


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning at breakfast Steve walked in, looking around at the others he asked;

"Has anyone seen Clint or Natasha? Their phones have been going off all morning"

Pepper and Tony glanced at each other; they'd had such a good time the night before they'd completely forgotten all about their master plan to settle the argument between the resident assassins.

"Well it either worked, or they killed each other" Tony said as he and Pepper hurried down the hallway

They quickly unlocked the door to find the two assassins stood waiting for them. Tony jumped behind Pepper, she smiled at the two of them nervously as she elbowed Tony in the stomach.

"Did it work?" she asked hopefully

"It worked" Clint said happily

"Thanks" Natasha added

The two assassins walked down the hallway hand in hand, laughing and joking, but most importantly; happy.

Little did they know that in three short weeks they'd receive some news which would change their lives forever...


End file.
